Feel Good Kings: The Danny Kettler Duology, #1

By Grayson Sydney

Your death is just a tool we haven't figured out yet.​

 

Danny Kettler slipped up. In retaliation, his father has moved them halfway across the country. Within weeks he is remarried and Danny is saddled with a new stepsister. So far, the only good to come from the move are West and Olive. Between West, the rich and kind track star he can't allow himself to want, Olive with her gift for the occult and a secret both she and Danny share, and trying to dodge his father's fragile wrath and fist-heavy faith, Danny's got his hands full. He needs to get out. He knows one day his father will kill him, or he'll die doing something stupid, like telling West how he feels.

 

Desperate to skip town, he signs up for a psychological trial to fund his escape. He finds himself balancing trying to keep West at arm's length, compromising his beliefs completing the increasingly violent experiments, and the paranoia that they're not only making him sick, but are giving him telekinetic abilities.

 

Led by the obsessive Dr. Linda Stone, the trial might mean the difference between life, death…and something far worse. The unknown.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Grayson Sydney
• Release date: Aug 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393484219

Book preview

1

The fault line of a hero was in their willingness to admit weakness. Refusal to do so made them villainous.

Danny’s new little stepsister, Piper, told him that—right after their parents tied the knot at city hall last Sunday.

Piper bragged she was smarter than most kids in her grade. She liked to read so often that she flew through a book or two a week. She aced every test she took and had dreams to get into Stanford one day. He could read between the lines. What she meant was she had all kinds of clever sayings to impart on him, and all of them very much unasked for. She was a walking library, and just as annoying.

Danny thought her sayings weren’t really so wise at all. She was a kid. Fourteen. What the hell did she know?

Heroes were heroes. That was why people told stories about them, why they made movies and wrote rock ballads. Heroes weren’t weak. Heroes were kind and brave and did their jobs well. They saved the day. They were heroic. That was the point.

Why Piper was so insistent on following him around and talking his ear off, he didn’t know. He couldn’t bother with her incessant prattling, near constant and always ringing of smarter-than-thou.

They had barely been in Bitter for two weeks, him and his father. His father, Hoshea—liked to go by Shea better, made him feel more Americana or whatever—met Poppy Russell and found his new target. Poppy had auburn hair framing her freckled face; a mouse of a woman. Said little, instead speaking with plenty of soft lipped, simpering smiles. She bowed her head when Hoshea so much as glanced her way. Basically whispered when she spoke. Hunched like a nun in a brothel for daring to exist in the presence of others. He liked that in his women.

Hoshea preferred it in anyone he crossed paths with. Better seen and not heard. Better to be neither than either.

Obedience was Hoshea’s number one trait he looked for in others; in women most of all. The ideal wife was someone who took orders, behaved like a lady, and was practically mute so there would be little risk of backtalk. A walking doll.

Hoshea had plenty of girlfriends. Plenty before they got wise, and they always got wise before long. But Poppy proved different because she’d said yes when Hoshea asked her to marry him. Danny wondered if his father paid her off. Why had she done it? What made her so special, besides having a brat in tow?

What made her so stupid?

With Poppy came Piper. Small and freckle faced, just like her mother. But Piper was a loudmouthed thing. A brat who got in trouble she had no business being involved in. Danny could tell. He knew what to look for, and the kid wore it plain as day. It was in the way mud caked her tennis shoes. In the little knowing smirk she wore except for when she had to simper when expected to—a trick no doubt learned from her mother. Piper understood how things worked. How to get around the rules.

All things Danny learned early growing up.

Danny hated the Russells, but now they were moving in to the Kettlers’ already cramped house and he had no energy to deal with that either. The only option was to take off. Even though he knew he was bringing hell down on himself when he got back that night.

But right now, he needed out. To go do something. He needed the breeze, even with the heat. Made him miss summer back home, where for a few months sweltering heat made the air blistering, and pollen littered the ground in thick yellow swaths. In contrast, Bitter heat was proving to be humid. And with school around the corner, there was sure to be traffic. Busy parents needing to buy last-minute crap for their kids who thought it’d make their lives a little less loser-like. That a blue highlighter instead of yellow might get their lame kid more friends. Like any number of mundane details made a difference in their kid growing up to be anything but another farmer.

Bitter, Illinois was a small country town. When Hoshea ripped up Danny’s world and announced they’d be moving, he said it had charm. That it would be a new start. So far, that meant a wife Hoshea most likely scraped out of a wet bar, and her runt of a little girl. Along with his new job at the local factory, what wasn’t there to find charming? The town was nothing but flat farmland and dairy factories. It had one black and towering oil spout that piped out thick hot gasses around the clock. The closer you got to the factory, the greater the odor clotted along the back of the throat—Danny practically tasted it on the drive in.

There was a mall and a theater. Those were the big draws so far.

Bitter had Hoshea Kettler written all over it.

Danny pictured something closer to Portland. He’d seen pictures of Chicago, had seen the sprawl of its buildings in movies. The cities were two of a kind, so it was only fair to move from one big city to another. But small town charm and all. His father expected him to fall to his knees in thanks that they’d moved anywhere near a city.

Because as far as Hoshea was concerned, Danny deserved it.

Hoshea stopped Danny before he got too far down the drive. Take your sister shopping. She needs things for school. Get yourself set up too.

With what money, he wondered, rolling his eyes where his father couldn’t see.

But Hoshea was already urging Piper out the door, his mouth stretched in a rigid smile as she bounded down the steps. The screen door slammed shut. Inside, their respective parents laughed as they unpacked. As they ignored their kids to play at being the ideal American family.

Now, here they were. Having to live it.

Piper’s large eyes focused on him, blue and unblinking. You got any cash?

Not for spending on this crap. You?

Ten bucks. Mom gave it to me this morning.

Danny nodded. Pointed to his car. Get in and don’t talk my ear off. I’m not in the mood.

Piper’s brow scrunched. Not like I am either.

Watch your shoes. He unlocked her door and eyed her as she climbed into the cab. Don’t scratch anything. You scuff it, you buff it out.

Geez, sure, she said. I’m not gonna mess up your ride.

Danny fought back his first instinct to slam the door on her elbow. Closed it as lightly as he could make himself instead. Took a deep breath and decided today was already a wash.

2

Smoking kills, you know, Piper said, not long after he pulled onto the road.

Danny fingered his cigarette and knocked ash out the window. You parrot everything you read?

The Surgeon General said so in 1964. The smile she sported reeked of superiority. She kicked up a knee until Danny reached over to push it back down, her foot bouncing off the leather seat. Hey!

Don’t try me, kid. I’m not some chump like your mom. Be grateful I’m even letting you in my car.

She’s not a chump. And you’ll have to drive me to school and pick me up now, since I’ll be a freshman. Mom said so. Piper flipped him off. Danny couldn’t help but laugh at her for it, wiggling the cherry at her. You fill your lungs with carcinogens all you like. You really want to explain why my clothes smell like you when we get back?

She had a point. Hoshea didn’t give a shit if he smoked, but brand new little stepdaughter, Piper? Wouldn’t have a chance in hell of flying.

Danny took one last drag before flicking the thing out the window. He blew a trail of vapor out of the widening crack as he cranked it all the way down. Let his elbow rest half out as he drove, wind catching on his fingers.

Bitter was split between the rich, the middling, and the poor. They’d passed the rich section driving in during the move. A neat little row of suburbs, most gated and facing the mall with its shiny neon sign bright enough to light its way to space.

Driving into town for the first time, they’d passed by it all, going straight for the suburbs whose streets held more than a few foreclosed lots. The Kettler household’s new neighborhood.

The bad part of town sat stuck in the ass crack of nowhere. Stunk like fertilizer and oil, and all the scents that went along. The air so thick with it, the difference could be seen driving through. Just passing the entrance to the highway was enough to mark a change in the air.

Breathing came easier the second he turned out of the neighborhood. That couldn’t have been good for the residents.

Beside the highway sat a big blue billboard. Plastered on it was an image of students running toward the University of Chicago while a woman in a white lab coat covered a majority of the foreground. Pretty brunette, big smile, white teeth framed in red lipstick, clipboard. To the left of her in large yellow letters read; Open your mind! Only at Chicago U. Sign up today!

The advertisement didn’t scream obvious. Hoshea had yet to bug him about college. It wouldn’t be that way for long, not with him being a year out from graduating. His father had big ideas about a man’s duty in life—two of them being higher education or the service. The inevitable boiling down of his life’s expectations loomed like a dark cloud just waiting to rain.

He didn’t want to go to college in the Midwest. He didn’t want to live in the Midwest.

What’s high school like, anyway? I heard it’s not like middle school at all. The girls are meaner. And the boys want to sneak into the girls’ locker room.

Danny sucked on his teeth. He didn’t want to ferry around some dumb midwestern kid either.

Keep away from boys.

Why?

You’re old enough to know why.

They pulled up to a red light. Danny waited, tapping a beat on the door of his car. The air already hung heavy with heat. In a few short hours, he’d be sweating through his shirt.

Across the sidewalk and down a little green hill sat Bitter High. It was small, built up in red brick. It looked unassuming; surrounded by grass, a track field, with one big parking lot facing out.

He caught sight of a group leaving the circuit—if the guy wearing runner shorts and wiping his face with a shirt was anything to go by. The girls laughed at something the shorter guy said before playfully swatting at one another. Their laughter drifted on the summer breeze, a dislocated echo.

Danny?

Huh, he mumbled, turning back to Piper. She looked mad. What?

What’s the matter with boys? I’ve had a boyfriend before.

You’re like, thirteen.

Fourteen, she told him, even though he didn’t need reminding. And I know what boys want. It’s not like it’s a mystery.

He tapped faster. You shouldn’t know about that stuff. If you were Hoshea’s he’d smack that talk out of you.

Good thing he’s not my dad, then. Besides, I’m not even into what guys want. Who cares? Seriously though, what’s it like? Is it hard?

Is what hard?

She made a frustrated little groan. High school! She turned in her seat to face him full on. Are the girls mean?

Danny once knew a girl. Deb. She hated this other girl, Melinda. Used to bark at her because Melinda had a habit of inhaling noisily between sniffles. She sounded like a whimpering little dog. Deb once tore up Melinda’s final for AP Government and dumped a bottle of clear nail polish in her thermos at lunch when she wasn’t looking.

Deb had been one of Danny’s best friends. They’d shared each other’s first kiss. First few bases, too.

It had been awkward.

Don’t let anybody mess with you and you’ll be okay, he finally told her, thinking about the strange dichotomy of high school female relationships. Figured the rules were the same, boys or girls. Speak up for yourself. Don’t let the other girls think you’re weaker than them.

He glanced at her. Freckly kid who barely brushed her hair, wore Converse, and flipped off guys twice her size? She’d be fine.

Piper stuck the end of her thumb in her mouth, chewing on the nail.

Probably.

Danny reached over and pulled her hand away from her mouth. She snatched it back.

And don’t do that. At the dark expression she sent him, he added, High school is shitty all around, okay? But you don’t have to make it harder on yourself.

Like you know?

The tapping stopped. He slapped the outside of the car door before moving back to the steering wheel. Gripped so hard his knuckles turned white.

Stupid Midwest girl, stupid Midwest town, stupid—

Hey, you asked me, twerp.

She snorted. Turned back toward the window. Guess you’re right. A sigh. Then, What’s it like for boys? Your age, I mean.

Boys his age. Seventeen and stupid. Raring to go. Screw-ups and losers and good-for-nothings, just like Hoshea loved to remind him.

If Danny swallowed, he could still taste the blood at the back of his throat from the week before Hoshea said they’d be moving. That had been a bad few days.

He wished he never tossed his smoke away.

It’s hard for everybody. Don’t you listen? You have ears last I saw.

God, she said under her breath. Are you always such an asshole, Danny?

Danny shook his head. "You don’t know the half of it, kid. I’m just saying, I get it. You want to make yourself top dog, you’ve got to put in the work. Find the coolest group and you make a spot for yourself there. You make your seat, own it, and you sit in it until you graduate. Nobody will give you trouble if you do that. Easy sailing."

Make my seat?

Figure of speech.

Okay, she said. Were you a popular kid back in Oregon?

Deb had kissed Danny goodbye one morning, and by night he had two broken front teeth. Blood in his throat. Bruised ribs. Laughter loud and ringing through the silence while his hands shook in tight fists.

Hoshea had left to wash his hands.

The light turned. Danny kept driving for long, wordless minutes.

He answered, Used to be.

And now?

Now I have to suss things out, same as you. See where I stand. Shouldn’t be hard in this armpit of a town. Place is the size of a walnut.

She snorted like he’d made a joke. You don’t know your way around yet. Just wait. Oh! Turn in here, it’s Casey’s. They have stuff.

It was a small shopping plaza. There was a rundown looking pizza joint, a video rental place, Casey’s, and a coffee shop at the very end. A group of kids practiced tricks on skateboards nearby. Across the street sat an auto shop with a line of cars idling out front, waiting for service. The lot itself wasn’t too full. Danny pulled into a spot in front of the general store and dug out his pack for another cigarette.

Piper scowled at him. Are you serious?

Just meet me back here when you’re done.

No way. My mom thinks you’ll be my chaperone. I’m not about to get on her bad side right before school starts.

Poppy has a bad side?

Ugh. She slapped a palm on the seat. You coming or what?

Danny slipped his smokes back in the breast pocket of his jacket. He hopped out and locked up, brushing his palms on his jeans.

Fine. Lead on.

Out front, Piper shoved a cart at him. Danny grunted at the impact but took the cart, pushing it if only because she’d definitely start talking his ear off if he ditched her to go smoke. So he followed her down an aisle that screamed back to school discount.

Are you getting anything? Piper asked, even as she dumped in notebooks, pens, and highlighters. The blue kind, not the yellow.

He snorted. My money’s for me, kid. Better things to spend it on than school stuff.

But what will you use to write?

I’ll steal some paper and a pencil the first day.

Mouth dropping open, she said, Ridiculous.

He rifled through the small stack amassing in the cart. Says the girl who’d rather spend her money now than save it for skipping and catching a show.

You do that kind of stuff?

‘Course. Why not? he asked, nonchalant. I look like a square?

She stopped, turning to him with a serious expression. You wouldn’t rat me out? If I took off and did my…did what I usually do.

Danny didn’t know what she usually did. He wanted his cigarettes. He thumbed the outline of the zippo in his pocket. Here’s the deal. We’re both stuck in this situation now whether we like it or not. And we both clearly don’t. At all. I can’t find a reason to like you, but it’s better to play nice and keep out of each other’s hair so life can go on like normal. Right?

Right. She caught her lower lip between her teeth. So you sneak out a lot? I wouldn’t rat on you if you don’t rat on me.

I’m not a snitch. Trust me. Life will be safer if Hoshea doesn’t catch wind of what I get up to. But that’s my business, and so long as your business is yours, and doesn’t involve getting knocked up or lost or, hell, running off? If we keep to whatever curfew he sets for you, then things will run real smooth.

And because Danny’s life had never been easy, Piper’s eyes fixed on him. Curious and searching. Safer?

How do you explain secrets nobody wanted to hear to a kid?

Yeah. Danny leaned over the handle of the cart, staring down into the supplies. After a moment, he caught her staring up at him. Don’t get smart.

Does he smack you around? she asked, doing exactly what he’d told her not to. Like you said?

He was saved from answering when a voice called out from behind them.

Hey! Is that Piper Pipsqueak?

A funny mix of emotions washed over Piper’s face. She stepped out into the center of the aisle, her shoulders gone tense. Said, Hey, West. Everybody.

Danny turned, still leaning on the cart as it inched forward. It was the group he’d seen crossing the track field before. The girls and the boy in his runner’s shorts. Short yellow shorts. All lean muscle and long legs. Freckles—or were they moles?

Danny swept his gaze up—avoiding the boy’s face—and took in the two girls greeting Piper with ruffled hair and squeezing hugs. They were all smiles for Piper. They carried over to Danny as they appraised him. Danny wanted to gag.

This is April, Piper said, grinning up at the girl hugging her. Petite and Black, her hair twisted up into braids. She had an easygoing smile. April lifted Piper a little off the ground as she said hello. When back on equal footing, Piper turned and pointed at the others. Pearl. And Cheryl. She sent Danny a warning glance. Be nice.

Pearl was tan and tall and wore her brown hair in curls. She was nearly as tall as the guy—West, with his long runner legs. Cheryl had more freckles than Piper and her mother combined, with straight blonde hair that ended at her waist. Looked a picture out of the seventies.

West had dark hair that hung in his eyes, too long at the neck. Had a pleasant smile. It leaned on one side of silly and sat smack between dimples. His eyes were big and curious as he took Danny in. Danny swallowed.

An arm shot out, and Danny found himself presented with a hand. He grasped it and shook.

Make a good impression, he thought. A lasting impression. Make sure West remembers you.

You’re not usually nice? West asked.

According to the aforementioned pipsqueak, I guess not.

Oh my God, Piper muttered.

West hummed. Ah, makes sense. Piper is a quick judge of character. You should have heard what she called Dio when they first met.

He didn’t ask who Dio was. Piper was covering her mouth with one hand, flushing.

I didn’t mean it!

West’s dimples deepened as he bit his lip. Poor kid was a wreck for an entire week.

Piper turned around, embarrassed.

Huh.

Then West’s attention was back on Danny. And you are…?

I’m Daniel Kettler, he said at the same time Piper said, This is just Danny.

Weston Cahill, West said, amused. This is April Flowers, Pearl Hernandez, and Cheryl Smith. Since we’re being so formal.

April Flowers, Danny echoed. Cool name.

April ducked her head with a tiny smile.

Guess we’re not cool enough for the new guy, Pearl, Cheryl said, pouting.

Pearl rolled her eyes. What will I do with this heartbreaking information?

Cheryl smacked her on the arm. Be heartbroken, obviously! I mean, have you seen him, Pearl? she went on, whispering too loud to be subtle, raking her eyes over Danny from head to toe. Sammy would kill me, but I think it’s worth it.

Cheryl, Pearl admonished. Keep it in your pants.

The two tittered, though April seemed unimpressed.

West smiled a sunshine bright smile. He dropped Danny’s hand.

Lay off, guys, he said. They only giggled harder, feeding off one another.

April folded underneath his arm. West bent his neck to kiss her cheek.

Danny nodded. Just West, then.

Another smile. Righto, just Danny.

The shorter boy from before approached, clapping West on the back. He was loud and barreling as he came up, laughing at nothing Danny could figure out. He held two packs of beer.

Guys, I found the—Oh, the boy said, expression stalling. You’re new.

Danny shifted. Stood up straighter. The guy was sizing him up. Arched eyebrow. Tiny, barely withheld smirk. Self-satisfied, like he thought he was better than Danny. Danny had no idea how Sammy could tell he was new in town.

Danny put on his best smile, the one that made all the girls quiver back in Portland.

Sammy. West sighed, knocking into the boy beside him. Leave him alone. This is Danny, Piper’s new friend.

Brother, actually, she corrected.

Stepbrother, Danny corrected her. She shrugged. Our parents got hitched.

Oh! Pearl leaned down and smoothed a pinch of hair behind Piper’s ear. Cupped her cheek before Piper fussed in the way only a tween could. Pearl struck Danny as someone who had younger siblings. Probably had a huge family. Congrats to you both. I didn’t know your mom was seeing anyone.

Piper shrugged again, suddenly not having very much to say compared to being the chatty little brat she’d been on the ride over.

Which reminded him. Was that your group coming from the high school?

Sammy looped an arm around West’s shoulder, effectively pushing him and April apart. Danny didn’t miss the glare she shot his way.

Sammy, Cheryl warned.

Sammy waved a hand in her general direction. Calm it, girlie. I didn’t do nothing yet.

I recognize that look. Cheryl jerked a thumb at him. Said to Danny, This here’s my guy. He can be a bit showy, so don’t mind him.

Danny didn’t mind. The guy was small time, anyway. A bottom of the barrel kind of leech. It was all in the way he hung on West. Like he owned him.

Deb had been the same with Danny.

But West didn’t seem bothered by the display. To each their own.

That was us, April said. We were coming off the field.

Cheryl leered. The Cahills have always been big track stars in town.

That right? Danny asked, glancing at those little yellow shorts again.

Yep. Gotta make sure I keep in shape for the season ahead so I can add another ribbon to the wall. The shrug he gave belied his words.

Even before school starts?

Totally. West’s mood shifted, instant. See, there’s this big twilight event this year, and I was thinking of—

Sammy jostled his friend, cutting him off. You seem real interested, new guy. You a runner?

No, Danny thought.

I could be.

Piper looked up at that. In those jeans?

What about my jeans?

West snorted. Maybe the fact they’re painted on?

Piper whirled on him. "He likes metal, West! There followed a gagging sound. I saw his music collection. It’s not good."

Whoa, hold your horses, kid, Danny warned. You don’t know shit about good music.

I could tell by the shirt. West hummed, amused. Fond, even. You from Chicago?

Cheryl grinned something sharp and toothy and cut in before Danny could answer. If you run, you could give West a challenge for once.

Danny took the opportunity and sized West up again. You that good? Nobody can keep up?

We’ve been to state every year since West made the team. And dear old daddy before him, and even his big—

West waved a hand. Cut it out, Cher.

Can’t a girl have fun? she asked with a sneer. Sammy turned and looped an arm around her waist. She sent a pouty kiss to Danny. Sammy shook her a little to get her eyes back on him. "Whatever. I am a taken woman after all."

West nodded toward Danny, patted Piper’s head, and reached out for April’s hand. We should head out. Date night, remember?

She smiled up at him, and Danny thought she looked relieved.

Sammy’s eyes, however, never left Danny. Yeah, yeah. Have fun.

Then West turned back to him, and he had to remind himself he didn’t like this town. He didn’t like the Midwest, and that included the hicks inside it. No matter how long their legs were.

We should hang out sometime, West told him. It’s good to make friends when you’re the new guy.

Agreed, April said. Find us at lunch on Monday. The school’s easy to get around.

You would know. Sammy scoffed.

There was definitely something off there. The look April shot at the floor rather than Sammy said more than if she’d smacked the guy across the face.

Yeah, Danny finally said, putting his attention back on West. On the group. I’ll find you.

Why? Why’d he bother to say something like that? It wasn’t like he cared. He wouldn’t be here for long.

West beamed at him. They headed off, pleased with the agreement. Pearl and Cheryl hung back with Sammy.

Pearl was staring at Danny like he was a puzzle to figure out. While his smile had worked its magic on Cheryl, it hadn’t budged Pearl.

Well… Piper started pushing at the cart. Danny. We have shopping to do.

He didn’t wake up that morning thinking he’d be thanking Piper—for anything, ever—but if it meant spending as little time around Sammy as possible, he’d do it.

So he did when they were a couple aisles over. Nice escape there.

Sammy’s weird. I never liked him.

What’s wrong with him?

What? she asked. Nothing? He’s just an idiot.

He snorted. How do you know so many high schoolers, anyway? I thought you were nervous about your freshman year.

April has her little brother, Richard. And West knows Dio. We all know Angie. Everybody’s starting at the high school this year. We carpool sometimes whenever Mom can’t drive me. I’m not really their friend. Everybody just kind of knows each other in Bitter.

I don’t, he thought. Not yet.

3

The first day of high school back in Portland, Danny’s nerves were shot. Had all kinds of butterflies in his gut wanting free. He almost hurled up his lunch that first day, too. And like a cherry on top of a rotten cake, some red nosed kid picked a fight with him during last period gym. Danny sent the kid to the school nurse with crossed eyes and an aching head. People still tried fighting him after that first time. The second time ended bloody.

Nobody messed with him after that. Instead, everybody wanted to be his friend.

Danny turned his key, let the rumble of the engine cut away. One look at Piper confirmed she was as much a bundle of nerves as she’d been first thing that morning, as they ate the surprisingly tasty pancakes Poppy cooked for them special. Then she’d sent them both out the door with bagged lunch. Danny left his in the backseat, having no intention of bringing bagged lunch to school. Piper gripped hers like it was the only tether she had to life itself.

He should be encouraging, or something. Offer words of advice.

Get out, Danny said instead. Meet me back here at three or you’re walking.

Whatever she mumbled under her breath as she climbed out sounded suspiciously like, Step off, douche. He let it go. Wouldn’t do shoving the brat to the ground the first day of class. That would just be rude.

Piper smoothed down her striped shirt and hustled off, hands gripping her backpack straps as her elbows flapped like a penguin’s wings. Nobody paid her any mind. Just another kid going to class. She didn’t need to worry about anything.

Danny sighed. Put on a smile and got out. He could do this, same as he always did. Pretend to be the shiny new, fun West-Coaster and they’d be tripping over themselves to talk to him by the end of the week.

Heads turned like they always did. He didn’t exactly fit in. And if Portland girls hadn’t been immune, he knew—hoped—Bitter girls would be no better. Cheryl served as the unexpected test run.

Girls called, Hey, there, as he passed. The guys they were with stared while pretending not to. Then they looked at Danny’s car instead, because that was safer. Easier to explain away. Danny got that. He really did.

His car was nice, after all. An ’83 El Camino. Red with a solid black stripe down the hood. She was gorgeous, and he knew it. She was his pride and envy all wrapped in one. Whatever made life easier was worth it. Few ever questioned a guy with a car like his. There hadn’t been a match in town he’d seen yet.

But as Danny neared the school he caught the green shine of another car further up, toward the front of the lot. It was stunning. Nearly good as took his breath away. The car was an old Mustang painted a rich forest green. Danny had to swallow his own spit the closer he got. Probably wouldn’t do drooling all over the damn place. It shined like it was fresh off the lot from decades earlier.

And it was West sitting up against her. It figured.

Danny almost went up to him. Wanted to greet West like some kind of old friend. Like he’d known the guy forever. Wanted to say, Nice ride, and laugh and clap the guy on the back, maybe ruffle his hair like West and his friends had ruffled Piper’s. Wanted to go up and touch the gleaming silver shine of the stallion on the grill.

But West only had eyes for April, who leaned into him and smiled all sparkling soft up at him. A world of their own, and not one Danny wanted to invade. Too much effort. Too much everything.

Danny kept walking. Told himself he just didn’t want to interrupt.

It was his first day. First day at a new school in a new town. He had twice as much to lose as little Piper, who was scared shitless despite all her friends. It was important to make a good first impression. Had to be immaculate.

Had to be in control.

Not twenty minutes into first period, Danny knew his first impression of the town hadn’t been far off the mark. Bitter was country fenced in by farm land. And if Bitter was farming country, then Bitter High expected a good portion of their student body to graduate and go right to work. Probably even before, judging by the number of farmer tans he’d counted by lunch.

His first impression had been; these kids will be dumb. They kind of were.

Oregon had its share of small towns and country, of course. But Danny came from Portland. Portland was big. It cared about its education standard. There was opportunity in Portland for jobs that didn’t involve dirt and veggies.

Class flew by. Nothing he gleaned from the syllabi handed out was above what he’d done in middle school back home. He was smarter than these Bitter locals. Danny would have top grades by graduation, he knew it.

Danny fought down the smug smile he wanted to show off until lunch. Just until lunch, when he’d find West and the others. When he could take a moment and get a real feel of the school and who to watch out for, who could be toppled, who wasn’t a threat. Who could be used. Who had ties to buy liquor under the counter, who sold pot. The details mattered.

Between classes in the halls, he hadn’t seen any familiar faces.

When the bell rang for lunch, he was the first out the door.

The cafeteria was nothing special. All open space, round tables, a sluggish line for loading up trays with crap mush.

Danny swiped an apple from some wiry kid who wasn’t paying attention. He rubbed it on his shirt to take off the shine and took a bite as he scoped the space out. He didn’t find who he was looking for, but he did find the next best thing.

As he approached, Sammy and Cheryl were leaving for the lunch line. He laughed as Cheryl slapped at his chest. Nothing mean, but something south of loving.

You can’t say stuff like that anymore, she said. Then they were out of earshot.

April and Pearl were sitting across from each other at their own table. April stuck her fork into a brown mess of something on her plate while Pearl talked with her hands.

The arrogance of White men continues to be astoundingly bloated, doesn’t it? Pearl was saying, and it got a tired little sigh from April.

He doesn’t mean it.

Doesn’t mean what? Danny asked, making himself known. Pearl gave him a sidelong look. April smiled. That offer still good?

Recognition passed over her face. Oh, yeah. Yeah, there’s plenty of room.

Take Sammy’s seat while you’re at it, Pearl added as he sat down in the chair she pointed to. They won’t be back, anyway.

Why not?

‘Cuz they’ll be sucking tongues, Pearl said, making a face. I don’t get what she sees in that ape.

April sighed. You should ask her and end my misery listening to your complaining.

"I do not complain!"

April turned to Danny, expectant. He couldn’t help but shrug. You just did, I think, he said.

See?

I don’t complain, Pearl repeated. That much!

Uh huh, April muttered, eating a bite of food. So, Danny. How are you liking Bitter?

He could lie. Instead he said, Not much. It’s pretty lame.

She frowned at that.

Bitter’s nice, it’s home.

I’m getting used to things. I’m from the city, so—

Oh right, Chicago?

South Side? April asked him, with a knowing tone he didn’t like much.

No? Portland.

Where’s that?

It’s in Maine, April informed her friend.

Oregon, actually. It’s different. Everything is just different, that’s all.

Oh. April looked away from him. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed you came from South Side like that.

Why are you sorry?

Pearl snorted. She pointed at him. "Hello? Cutoff leather vest and, sorry but Piper was right...can you even breathe in those